fighting words

Speech meant to provoke a fight or confrontation with someone. The senatorial candidate issued strong fighting words to her opponent today, challenging her to an open debate on the matter of tax increases.

fighting words

A statement bound to start a quarrel or fight. It is often expressed as them's fighting words, as in You say your father's smarter than mine? Them's fighting words. The ungrammatical use of them's for "those are" emphasizes the folksy tone of this colloquialism, first recorded in Ring Lardner's Gullible's Travels (1917).

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Amalthea	-	Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Zaharina	-	Bulgarian, Macedonian
Cezary	tse-ZAH-ri	Polish
Cesarino	che-sah-REE-no	Italian
Wolodymyr	-	Ukrainian
Una	['ju:nə]